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IN THY COURTS’ 


Permissu Superiorum 


ji5tl)U obeitat: 

REMIGIUS LAFORT, S. T. L. 

Censor Librorum 


STmpnmatttr: 

JOHN M. FARLEY, D. D. 

Archbishop of New York 


New York, February 25, 1907. 


‘IN THY COURTS’ 

[La Focation a la Vie Religieuse) 


TRANSLATED FROM 
THE FRENCH OF 

LOUIS VIGNAT, S.J. 

M 


BY 

MATTHEW L. FORTIER, SJ. 


LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 
91 and 93 Fifth Avenue, New York 
London, Bombay, and Calcutta 

1907 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Cooies Roceivod 

MAY 20 I90r 

Cooyniritt Ewtry 
CLASS ^ XXc., NOi 




.V 




J 


Copyright, igoy. 

By Longmans, Green, & Co. 






TABLE OF CONTENTS. 




PAGE 


I. Jesus Christ and the Reli¬ 
gious Life . i 

11 . The Call of Jesus Christ. 12 

III. How THE Divine Call is Made 

Manifest. 27 

IV. The Struggle for a Vocation 42 


V 





ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS. 
(Reproduced from Les Andes.'') 


1 . “Jesus Christ and the Religious Life.” 
—Our Lord opposes as an antidote to the 
threefold concupiscence of the world the 
three substantial vows of religion. These 
vows constitute a state of life: the religious 
life. This state has Jesus Christ for author, 
for having established it by His example 
and teaching, He made it possible to our 
weakness by the shedding of His blood 
on Calvary. 

H. “The Call of Jesus Christ.”-Most 
frequently, vocation is the ordinary action 
of the Holy Ghost that urges us to embrace 
the good and moves us even to the greater 
good. This supernatural movement of grace 
is now more, now less, lively; now more, 
now less, persistent. It must be controlled 
by external authority. The Holy Ghost 
prompts and excites; the Church approves 
and puts into execution. It is the con- 


VI 


ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS vii 

fessor who in this acts in the name of the 
Church, but he must be a prudent and ex¬ 
perienced confessor. 

III. “How the Divine Call is Made 
Manifest.”—The first reason for becoming 
a religious is to secure one’s salvation at any 
cost. Next, the love of God urges us to 
imitation of the life of Jesus Christ. Some¬ 
times the desire to make the best use of one’s 
life and to spend it in the service of righteous¬ 
ness manifests the divine call. The empti¬ 
ness of human joys and the trials and diffi¬ 
culties of life are also means which divine 
goodness makes use of. Finally, good ex¬ 
ample and the grace of a good retreat often 
determine vocations. 

IV. “The Struggle for a Vocation.”—To 
correspond with God’s call difficulties arising 
from repugnance, anxieties, doubts, and un¬ 
reasonable apprehensions must be over¬ 
come. Barriers, put in the way by even 
Christian families, must be broken down. 
The heart, as well as the mind, must make 
its defense—the latter by freeing itself from 
sophisms, always refuted, but forever spring- 


viii ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS 

ing up again; the former by severing the 
cords of too natural a tenderness. 

In these short pages it was not the author’s 
intention to dispense theologians from read¬ 
ing the treatment of this question by such 
authors as Saint Thomas, Suarez, Flatus, 
Lessius, and Saint Alphonsus Liguori; but 
in thus summarizing the teaching of the 
masters he has done great service to the 
good of those souls who are seeking their 
own vocation, and who will therefore read 
these counsels with much profit. 


L. G. 


PREFATORY NOTE 


“ If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou 
hast, and give to the poor and come follow 
me,”^ the special message of Eternal Wisdom 
to a soul of predilection—is the Gospel truth 
of which ‘Tn Thy Courts’’ would give us an 
expose. 

It is to point out in Revelation a Scriptural 
warrant for the special call, to give some 
definite notion of its nature, to describe some 
of the many forms of its manifestation to the 
individual soul—to speak a word of warning 
to the unwary amidst the difficulties of the 
struggle in faithfully following the Savior’s 
invitation to a religious life voiced in love 
ineffable, that Father Vignat, a scholarly 
priest of the Society of Jesus, has written this 
booklet. It is especially timely since it ap¬ 
pears as a guiding ray of light in the dark, 
troublesome storm now hovering over and 
disturbing dear old France, when Satan’s 
shafts have been directed against the Church 

^ St. Matthew xix. 17. 


IX 


X 


PREFATORY NOTE 


and with special violence against her lovely 
Child—the Religious. Never was such a 
booklet more useful than now to help with 
its mite in directing the many vocations which 
on every hand manifest themselves in France 
— the Mother of Missionaries—as well as in 
other countries, a striking proof that “the 
Church persecuted is the Church trium¬ 
phant.” 

In these fruitful and immense gardens of the 
Church—our own dear America—the spirit 
of religion has taken firm root and put forth 
a vigorous growth in the many phases of 
Catholic and religious life. Hence, I wel¬ 
come this little work in its English version 
and new title “In Thy Courts,” the work 
of an American Jesuit teaching in the Arch¬ 
diocese. While I willingly bless his efforts, 
I gladly and earnestly commend this book 
to the Catholic and non-Catholic public, and 
especially to the youth of our country who 
are desirous of knowing and of studying, and 
may be of heeding, the Master’s Call. 

J. Card. Gibbons. 

Baltimore, Md., May i, 1907. 


Apostolic Delegation, 

United States of America. 

i8ii Biltmore Street, 
Washington, D. C., 
April the 19th, 1907. 

Reverend and dear Sir: — 

“In Thy Courts,” a translation of Father 
Vignat’s little gem on the call of Christ to a 
life in Religion, already approved by your 
Superiors, cannot fail to be of great service to 
English-speaking youths who in their doubts 
and aspirations are seeking light and counsel 
in that most important subject of Vocation. 

Its treatment of the sources of the religious 
life in revelation, the nature and manifesta¬ 
tion of a call to such a life, and the struggle 
of the soul in yielding obedience to the voice 
of the Lord is particularly timely and help¬ 
ful in these practical days, when men give 
so sparingly to God and Religion. 

Hence, whilst I praise your zeal and bless 


XI 


your efforts, I earnestly recommend “ In Thy 
Courts” to all those who wish to form an 
accurate idea of Vocation to Religion, and 
especially to those youths whose hearts are 
receiving the first impression of that calm, 
sweet Voice of the Master. 

Praying God to shower down upon you 
His choicest graces, I remain 

Most faithfully yours in Xt, 

D. FALCONIO, 

Apostolic Delegate. 

Reverend Matthew L. Fortier, S.J. 


Xll 


“IN THY COURTS” 


Is a short, solid, comprehensive study of 
“The Call of Christ to a Life in Religion” 
vouchsafed by the Master to His chosen 
followers in Evangelical perfection, trans¬ 
lated from the French of Louis Vignat, 
priest of the Society of Jesus, and Rector 
of the French Theologate, Hastings, England, 
by Matthew L. Fortier, priest of the same 
Society. 


Woodstock, 1907. 


The translator wishes to acknowledge his 
indebtedness and to express his cordial thanks 
for encouragement, help, and revision of 
manuscript to 

Rev. Edward I. Purbrick, S. J., Instruc¬ 
tor of Tertians, at St. Andrew-on-Hudson ; 

Rev. Timothy Brosnahan, S. J., Pre¬ 
fect of Studies and Professor of Ethics at 
Woodstock College; 

Rev. Aloysius P. Brosnan, S. J , late 
Professor of Dogmatic Theology at Wood- 
stock College and at present Professor of 
Philosophy at Georgetown University ; 

Rev. Francis T. McCarthy, S. J., Saint 
Aloysius Church, Washington, D. C. 


XIV 


THY COURTS” 


CHAPTER I. 

JESUS CHRIST AND THE RELIGIOUS 
LIFE. 

Only a very superficial idea of the religious 
life 'would be formed by any inquirer who 
should not at the outset fix his attention 
upon the mystery of the Incarnation itself 
and its incalculable consequences. “The 
Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.*’ ^ 
This is a fact of immense importance. 
It is none other than Eternal Wisdom hum¬ 
bling Himself even to the lowliness of human 
nature to teach men with His own divine 
lips. It is the life of God made man ex¬ 
hibiting from the Crib to Calvary an ideal 
of holiness which the most ambitious of moral 
greatness may strive after, though he can 
never fully attain its perfection. 

^St. John, I-14. 


2 


IN THY COURTS 


99 


6S 


More than this; by His death on the cross 
Jesus, at the price of His own blood, raises 
us to a kind of equality with Himself. In 
the eyes of God, Christians in the state of 
grace are no longer servants, but friends,^ 
brothers of Jesus Christ,^ adopted sons of 
God,^ temples of the Holy Ghost,^ partakers 
in the divine nature.^ This gift, like a 
divine seed,® transforms our nature into a 

^ “I will not now call you servants: for the servant knoweth 
not what his lord doth. But I have called you friends: be¬ 
cause all things whatsoever I have heard of my Father, I 
have made known to you.” St. John, XV-15. 

^“And stretching forth His hand towards His disciples. 
He said: Behold my mother and my brethren. For who¬ 
soever shall do the will of my Father, that is in heaven, 
he is my brother, and sister, and mother.” St. Matt., XII, 

49-50- 

“Go to my brethren, and say to them: I ascend to my 
Father and to your Father, to my God and your God.” St. 
John, XX-17. 

^“Behold what manner of charity the Father hath bestowed 
upon us, that we should be called, and should be the sons 
of God.” I Ep. St. John, III-i. 

^ “Know you not, that you are the temple of God I Ep. 
Cor. III-16. “Or know you not, that your members are the 
temple of the Holy Ghost.” I Ep. Cor., VI-19. 

^“By whom (Jesus Christ) he (God) hath given us most 
great and precious promises: that by these you may be made 
partakers of the divine nature.” II Ep. of St. Peter, I-4. 

Whosoever is born of God, committeth not sin: for His 
seed abideth in him.” I Ep. of St. John, III-9. 


CHRIST THE FOUNDER 


3 


new nature/ intended to grow continually, 
under the breath of grace and the influence 
of the sacraments, even to the full bloom of 
eternal happiness. In the mystery of the 
Incarnation, it is indeed the divine nature 
that is poured out upon the world. The life 
of our Lord, His teaching, and His gifts raise 
man above all that human reason could have 
conceived. Since God has loved us so much, 
and enriched us with so many gifts, but little 
elevation of mind and nobility of heart is 
required to put us out of conceit with that 
mere honest mean, or even balance between 
opposite extremes on which the sages of old 
used to plume themselves. 

Jesus calls on all His disciples—that is, 
on all Christians—to be perfect.^ 

Now, Christian perfection is charity. 
Jesus himself has said that in the love of 
God and of our neighbor are contained the 
whole law and the prophets.^ The more 

then any be in Christ a new creature, the old things 
are passed away, behold all things are made new.” II Ep.- 
Cor., V-17. 

2 St. Matt., V-48. 

\St. Matt., XXII-40. 


4 


IN THY COURTS 




99 


one loves God, the more does one advance 
toward perfection. 

Charity, and consequently perfection, ad¬ 
mit of degrees. The first, which is necessary 
for salvation, is the keeping of the Command¬ 
ments. “If you love me, keep my com¬ 
mandments;” ^ and this is a love which 
may at times require very much of the 
Christian. He must be ready to sacrifice 
all, even life, rather than offend God mortally 
by a grievous transgression of a single 
commandment. But charity can rise higher. 
True love of God does not rest satisfied with 
merely obeying His commands; it seeks in 
every way to fulfil His good pleasure; it 
forgets its own interests to be taken up with 
those of Jesus Christ alone; it devotes its 
life to His service—ready to spend and lose it 
for His honor and for His glory, for “greater 
love than this no man hath, that a man 
lay down his life for his friends.”^ 

The love of God is, then, the very ideal of 
perfection and of Christian life. Now, is 
this love, even in its lowest degree, the ob- 

‘ St. John, XIV-i5. 2 XV-13. 


CHRIST THE FOUNDER 


5 


servance of the Commandments, easily kept 
ever alive without even casual failure ? Above 
all, is it easy to carry this love to the self- 
renunciation preached by Jesus Christ ? 
Alas! ‘‘The spirit indeed is willing, but the 
flesh weak.” ^ 

God is not perceived by our senses. 
Though intimately and mysteriously present 
to each of us. He does not force Him¬ 
self upon our notice. How quick we are 
to forget Him! Things of the senses, on 
the other hand, unceasingly present them¬ 
selves to entice the heart, to attract and 
captivate it by a thousand cords of desire 
and enjoyment. How love God with one’s 
whole heart when it is entirely taken up 
with the things of earth .? The divine sower 
passes and casts the seed of his love upon 
good ground, which seems indeed well pre¬ 
pared; but the cares of life and riches, like 
thorns, grow up and choke the good grain.^ 
“Where thy treasure is, there is thy heart 
also,”^ saith Jesus. If the heart is given up 

* St. Matt., XXVI-41. 2 St. Luke, VIII-7-11. 

2 St. Matt., VI-21. 


6 


IN THY COURTS 




99 


to riches, to luxury, to comfort, it cannot be 
devoted to God, for, continues our Lord, 
“No man can serve two masters: * * * 
God and mammon. ” ^ The good things of 
this world are the first hindrance to the love 
of God. 

A second obstacle we bear within ourselves 
—an inclination, namely, to pleasure and 
enjoyment of the senses. There are pleasures 
that God blesses in lawful wedlock; yet 
even these divide the affections. “He that 
is with a wife,” says Saint Paul, in 
his frank and unstudied speech, “ is so¬ 
licitous for the things of the world, how 
he may please his wife : and he is divided. 
And the unmarried woman and the virgin 
thinketh on the things of the Lord, that 
she may be holy both in body and in spirit. 
But she that is married thinketh on the things 
of the world, how she may please her hus- 

band.”2 

If this be true of the lawful pleasures, what 
must be said of such as are not lawful ? 
The animal nature which we bear within us, 

^ St. Matt., VI-24. Ep. to Cor., VIl-33-34. 


CHRIST THE FOUNDER 


7 


if we but slacken the reins or treat it with too 
much delicacy, will rebel and claim its prey. 
The more we yield to it, the more does it 
demand. Thus it is that so many Christians, 
fed for years with the Eucharistic Bread, 
like the prodigal son, wander away to squan¬ 
der, far removed from God, the best sub¬ 
stance of their youth. 

A last obstacle to the love of God, and per¬ 
haps the greatest, because it emanates from 
a higher and more immaterial source, is 
pride. Man so easily lends an attentive ear 
to the old temptation of the Earthly Paradise: 
“You shall be as Gods.” ^ He wishes to 
be his own rule of conduct, to depend upon 
the lights of his own unaided reason, to do 
only his own will and make everything yield 
to its desires. He thus unavoidably comes 
into collision with the unbending law of God, 
and his charity, if it be not altogether de¬ 
stroyed, is always weakened. 

Jesus Christ knew all this. And in His 
divine wisdom He had calculated the extent 
of the influence of these three obstacles. 

1 Gen., III-5. 


8 


IN THY COURTS 


(( 




Thus to all who aspire to Christian perfec¬ 
tion—that is to say, to persevere and to ad¬ 
vance in the love of God—He holds out 
and counsels, without, however, imposing it 
upon them, a means as efficacious as it 
is radical. 

Have you set your heart upon higher things; 
is it your ambition to love God, as He de¬ 
serves to be loved? Ah then! soul of my 
choice, follow me; like me, embrace a life of 
poverty, of chastity, and of obedience. Pov¬ 
erty will free you from the dangers of riches; 
chastity will shield you from the deceptive and 
wayward attacks of the senses; obedience 
will shelter you from the peril of pride. 
And, mark it well, it is not some few isolated 
acts, performed, as it were, in passing, that 
our Lord Jesus Christ counsels. He desires 
an irrevocable engagement in a permanent 
state of life. ‘‘No man putting his hand to 
the plow, and looking back, is fit for the 
kingdom of God.”^ “If thou wilt be per¬ 
fect,” He says to the young man, “go sell 
what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou 
' St. Luke, IX-62. 


CHRIST THE FOUNDER 9 

shalt have treasure in heaven: and come 
follo’w me.” ^ 

There is clearly no question of ever taking 
back again goods once sold or given away. 
To the disciples He proposes a chastity 
such as, from the very terms He uses, can 
admit of no revocation.^ If He invites us 
to follow Him along the path of obedience. 
He is careful to let us know that, before 
us. He has been obedient unto death.^ 
These are the reasons why the practice 
of the Evangelical Counsels implies a last¬ 
ing engagement. There can be no reli¬ 
gious life, such as Jesus Christ conceived 
it, without abandonment of self to God. 
The vows must necessarily come in to trans¬ 
form the best of desires and the most ex¬ 
cellent of resolves into a permanent state 
of life. 

Such facts and reflections lead clearly to 
the conclusion that the roots of religious 
life lie deep in the Gospel itself. It springs 

*St. Matt., XIX-21. 

2 St. Matt., XIX-12. 

^Ep. to Phil., II- 8 . “He humbled himself, becoming 
obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross.” 


lO “in thy courts” 

from the Gospel as one of the choicest fruits 
of the teachings of Christ.^ 

Let religious life disappear and the Church 
would remain mutilated and uncrowned. 
It would no longer accomplish its full mission, 
since it would cease to teach mankind to 
keep and practice whatever Christ has taught. 

This is why Catholic doctors think that 
religious life, in all its essentials, will endure 
as long as the Church itself. Like the 
Church, though in a different sense, it has 
Christ for its founder. He founded it by 
His teaching and by His example. 

He has established the religious life in yet 
another way—by the merits of His precious 
blood. If in the days of our Lord the wise 
men of the world, then living, had heard 
Him proclaim the poor blessed, counsel 
abandonment of all possessions; if to dis¬ 
ciples who could not even understand the 

The religious orders, as everyone knows, take their 
origin and heir motive of existence from those sublime coun¬ 
sels of the Gospel, which our divine Redeemer addressed, for 
the whole course of ages, to those who wish to reach Christian 
perfection.” (Letter of Leo XIII to Cardinal Richard, De¬ 
cember 23, 1900.) 


CHRIST THE FOUNDER 


II 


possibility of marriage without divorce, they 
had heard Jesus speak the praises of chastity 
and of a life more angelic than human; if 
they had been present at exhortations to 
absolute self-renunciation and hatred of self, 
surely these wise and prudent men would 
have smiled, and would have looked upon 
such a life as a chimera. But Jesus was 
God. He sketched the plan of a perfect 
life, and then He shed His blood, and from 
that divine blood have sprung up thousands 
of men and women devoted to voluntary 
poverty, virginity, and obedience. All the 
lights that have guided the founders of orders, 
all the graces which have urged men and 
women to enter monasteries and religious 
houses, all the helps that secure their perse¬ 
verance, were merited for them on Calvary. 
It is not one of their least comforts, nor one 
of their least effectual spurs, for religious 
to be able to say to themselves that the call 
which they have heard, that the graces which 
sustain them, that the very life they lead, 
have come forth from the heart of Jesus 
upon the cross. 


CHAPTER II. 

THE CALL OF JESUS CHRIST. 

But how does Jesus Christ call men to the 
religious life ? With what voice does He 
reach the ear } What signs does He give 
of His invitation and of His desires 

Some calls are indeed miraculous. Such, 
for example, is that of Saint Stanislaus re¬ 
ceiving the Child Jesus in his arms, from the 
very hands of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and 
hearing the Queen of Heaven bidding him 
enter the Society of Jesus. 

But facts and revelations like these are 
very rare indeed. Only a few are recorded 
in the lives of the greatest saints. God does 
not govern the world of souls by miracle, 
but by the very effectual and yet very ordi¬ 
nary action of the Holy Ghost. 

This action of the Holy Ghost is not a 
mystic theory, more or less open to question; 
it is a genuine Catholic dogma. That the 
devil tempts us, no Christian can deny. 


THE CALL 


13 


Shall not God also exert an influence upon 
us ? Surely He does influence us; but in a 
way diametrically opposed to that of Satan. 
And how does Satan proceed Can he give 
us new ideas, or make us form new images 
without any preexisting element ? I do not 
think so. He tempts us first by rousing in 
our imagination, through association of ideas, 
representations the outlines of which are 
already long since stored up in our memories. 
And this is precisely the reason why sensual 
passages in books, immoral spectacles, in¬ 
decent pictures, are so very dangerous. 
They furnish the devil with weapons. 

God, on the other hand, urges us to well¬ 
doing in a more exalted manner, not by act¬ 
ing on our imagination and through it on our 
passions, but on our intellect and our will. 
To do this He makes use of the truths of 
faith which we already possess; He lights them 
up, as it were, before the eyes of our soul, and 
He gives to the will a keener relish of them 
and a more ardent enthusiasm in their pur¬ 
suit. Some truth of faith, for instance, 
the love that God bears us, which we well 


14 


IN THY COURTS 




>9 


knew long since, becomes through the action 
of the Holy Ghost within our souls more 
luminous. Heretofore it had left us cold 
and unmoved; but now we are deeply 
touched by its consideration. By this 
stronger and more penetrating light, under 
the action of God’s influence, we draw 
practical conclusions which we never thought 
of before, and we feel within ourselves at 
last courage to be logical. The Holy Ghost 
tells us nothing we did not know before; but 
He shows us what we know already under a 
light altogether new. 

The often repeated incident in the life 
of Saint Francis of Assisi is well known. 
The saint on hearing read from the Gospel 
a passage relating to poverty, straightway 
resolved to despoil himself of all his goods. 
Many have read that same Gospel page with¬ 
out being thus moved. Only a special light 
of the Holy Ghost could impel a man to the 
perfect and immediate execution of such a 
purpose. Who is there among us that does 
not know the “Quid prodest”—the Scriptural 
words: “What doth it profit a man, if he 


THE CALL 


15 


gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of 
his own soul?’'^ that made Francis Xavier 
a saint ? Or who is ignorant of the question: 

‘Quid hoc ad aeternitatem ?”—“Of what 
use is this for eternity?”^ This became 
the guiding maxim of Saint Aloysius of 
Gonzaga. These words remain in our 
hearts almost without response, because the 
Holy Ghost is silent in them. 

This truth, that admirable book, “The 
Following of Christ,” beautifully expresses 
when speaking of the prophets and the other 
authors of Holy Scripture: “They may in¬ 
deed sound forth words, but they do not 
add to them the spirit. They speak well, 
but, if Thou be silent, they do not set the 
heart on fire. They proclaim the command¬ 
ments, but Thou enablest us to fulfil them. 
They show the way, but Thou givest strength 
to walk in it. Their work is only external, 
but Thou instructest and enlightenest the 
heart. They water from out, but Thou 
givest the increase.”^ 

^ St. Matt., X\H-26. ^ Maxim of Saint Aloysius of Gonzaga. 

Following of Christ,” Book III-2. 


i6 '‘in thy courts” 

Those who by pious reading feed their 
souls with supernatural truths, and keep 
set hours of prayer and of recollection, know 
by experience this action of God’s grace upon 
the soul; whilst many are unacquainted 
with it because their minds are so filled 
with worldly thoughts and earthly cares 
that the Holy Ghost, the Dove of the Ark, 
finds in their souls no place whereon to 
rest. 

Vocation is nothing more than that light 
and that divine strength which we have just 
described, when directed entirely toward one 
special end—the religious life. Some day 
or other after hearing a sermon, after reading 
a pious book, or in the calm of prayer, in 
a moment of trial, or even after the enjoy¬ 
ment of some pleasure the emptiness of 
which God has caused a chosen soul to 
realize, the Holy Ghost will suggest to it 
a life in religion, and will urge that soul 
to embrace such a life from motives of 
faith. 

One single lively movement of grace may be 
enough; but if that movement, even though 


THE CALL 


17 


weak, is felt for a considerable length of 
time, and frequently renewed, there is un¬ 
doubtedly a vocation. 

It is indeed a supernatural movement, and 
hence comes from God. Nature does not 
incline a youth to a life of renunciation; it 
rather entices him to pleasure. Nature does, 
indeed, attract certain high-minded souls to 
glorious, noble, brilliant deeds; but it does 
not inspire them with humility, with self- 
abandonment, with detachment from be¬ 
loved objects and persons, nor with the sub¬ 
jection of self to a fixed rule of life. God 
alone, we repeat, by means of the truths of 
faith awakes such desires in the soul. 

Worldlings must attribute such desires 
to folly, or else recognize in them the finger 
of God. Even Alfred de Musset wrote with 
exquisite irony of “That unconquerable in¬ 
stinct which prompts a child of ten to con¬ 
ceive and keep the resolution of putting on a 
woolen garb, of seeking out the poor and the 
suffering, and of thus spending her whole 
life; many an indifferentist, or philosopher, 
will die before any of them can find the ex- 


i8 “in thy courts” 

planation of such a fancy, but the fancy 
really exists.”^ 

What the philosophers do not explain, 
because they will not have recourse to the 
supernatural, Christians understand without 
difficulty; it is light divine, the call of the 
Savior— vocation. Moreover, vocation, like 
every inspiration of the Holy Ghost, must have 
the safeguard of some external control. It 
is indeed one of the laws of supernatural 
Providence that all the good, which God 
urges us to do, should be subject to those 
whom the Church by her divine authority 
has appointed to lead us along the way 
of salvation. A very intense interior life 
and the most firm external authority thus 
are found united in the bosom of the Church. 
The Holy Ghost prompts generous undertak¬ 
ings ; the Church or her representatives ex¬ 
amine and approve them, after having, in 
case of need, eliminated from them the 
errors, the exaggerations, and the illusions 
which through imagination or self-love may 
have crept into such undertakings. It is 
Pierre et Camille,” III. 


THE CALL 


19 


thus that at every period of Christianity have 
originated great works, pious enterprises, 
reforms, and foundations of religious orders. 
And in them one and all we may always 
observe a twofold element. The Holy Ghost 
suggests them by His interior action upon 
the soul, but He wishes them to be carried 
into elfect under the guiding authority of 
His Church. 

In the ordinary guidance of souls it is 
to their confessors the Church commits the 
charge of watching over the movements of 
grace. It is to the confessor, then, that he 
whom God calls ought to open his mind 
and from him seek advice. But in so serious 
and delicate a matter it is important that the 
choice of a director be made with the utmost 
care. Not all priests have the same degree 
of prudence and the knowledge of souls so 
necessary in such a matter. Even in re¬ 
ligious orders the government of novices is 
not intrusted to any and every religious, but 
to men of solid virtue and of great discern¬ 
ment, not only because they have to form 
them to religious life, but especially because 


20 


IN THY COURTS 




>> 


it rests with them to decide on last appeal, 
as it were, upon the genuineness of vocations. 

An ideal director in the matter of vocation 
would be a priest guiding himself and others 
by the light of supernatural views alone, 
well instructed in the sacred sciences, and 
above all in the knowledge of God’s ways, 
of great experience in the direction of souls, 
free from prejudice against the religious 
life, and, moreover, well acquainted with its 
difficulties alike and its helps—in a word, 
no one can know it better than he who leads 
that life himself. 

The part of the confessor is to assist the 
action of grace without forestalling it, to 
dispel illusions, to banish false enthusiasm, 
as well as to remove prejudices, to light the 
way, to counsel prayer, the frequent reception 
of the sacraments, and the living of a life 
worthy of the graces received. But never 
should he put his own views in the place 
of God’s; he does not make decisions: he 
approves of them; he does not give a voca¬ 
tion: he recognizes it and declares its ex¬ 
istence. 


THE CALL 


21 


Vocations manifest themselves under very 
different forms. God does not conduct 
all souls by the same path. To some He 
vouchsafes a light so strong that doubt is 
impossible. Young people have been seen 
almost to shed tears of anger at feeling them¬ 
selves called. They did not want the re¬ 
ligious life. It was repugnant to every 
tendency of their nature. But deep down 
in their inmost souls was heard a call so 
clear that there was no stifling it. Calls 
so decisive are indeed rare. They occur, for 
the most part, only in the case of very gifted 
and generous natures, which, as the result of 
a combination of ideas and tastes, and even 
at times in consequence of past faults, find 
themselves very far removed from religious 
life. Our Lord seems to desire them in 
spite of everything. He pursues them until 
they surrender to Him. These are in minia¬ 
ture, short of the miraculous, vocations after 
the manner of Saint Paul’s. Our Lord 
could say to them as to His future apostle: 
‘‘It is hard for thee to kick against the goad.”^ 
lActs IX-5. 


22 


“in thy courts 


Such vocations do not admit of half 
measures. Souls of this stamp will answer 
to the call and will become holy. If they were 
to show themselves inflexible and refuse the 
graces offered them with so much insistence, 
they would rush quickly on to sad extremes, 
and their eternal salvation would thereby 
be in great peril. 

In clear distinction from this urgent call, 
there is another resembling an invitation, the 
acceptance of which is not insisted upon but 
left entirely to the attention and choice of 
the soul invited. Our Lord suggests the 
vocation; He does not seem to wish to enjoin 
it upon the soul as a bounden duty. “If 
thou wilt,” ^ He says. He gives the call, 
but He does not urge it. This kind of vo¬ 
cation is often found in the case of good souls 
who have already received very many graces. 
Such, indeed, is the story of the rich young 
man of the Gospel:^ “And behold one (a 
young man) came and said to him; ‘Good 

^ St. Matt., XIX-17. 

^ St. Matt., XIX. St. Mark, X-21. Conf. A. J. Maas, 
“Life of Christ,” page 360. 


THE CALL 


23 


master, what good shall I do that I may have 
life everlasting?’ And Jesus said to him: 
‘Why callest thou me good? One is good, 
God. But if thou wilt enter into life, keep the 
commandments.’ And he said to him: ‘ Which 
(commandments)?’ And Jesus said: ‘Thou 
shalt do no murder; thou shalt not commit 
adultery; thou shalt not steal; thou shalt not 
bear false witness; honor thy father and thy 
mother; and, thou shalt love thy neighbor 
as thyself.’ The young man, answering, 
saith to him: ‘All these (commandments) 
have I kept from my youth, what is yet want¬ 
ing to me?’ And Jesus looking on him, 
loved him, and said to him: ‘If thou wilt 
be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give 
to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in 
heaven: and come follow me.’ And when 
the young man had heard this word, he 
went away sad: for he had great pos¬ 
sessions.” 

Every day this scene is renewed in the 
secrecy of some youthful heart. 

Take, for instance, a youth of excellent 
nature, of virtuous disposition; he has pre- 



24 


IN THY COURTS 


(( 


yy 


served his purity, thanks to the watchful 
care of a Christian home. Placed at a 
Catholic college, he has experienced scarcely 
any hardship. He is a prudent and model 
student and a frequent communicant. It 
would cost him little effort to follow a voca¬ 
tion, if one were given him. Our Lord, 
who loves virgin hearts, invites him gently: 
“If thou wilt.”^ The young man hesitates. 
He would have more light, a call more pro¬ 
nounced, more imperious. Jesus will give 
him nothing more. Is not this discretional 
invitation, which he may accept or reject 
as seems good to him, in itself an immense 
grace ? Everything will depend upon his 
generosity. Many youths in like cases accept 
the call; they become excellent religious, 
who cheerfully bear the yoke of the Lord in 
joy and peace. Many, on the other hand, 
reject the proffered vocation and generally 
become very indifferent Christians, for the 
gift of God is not refused with impunity. 

Between the vocations of mere invitation 
and vocations so urgent and pronounced as 
^St. Matt., XIX-17. 


THE CALL 25 

almost to border on the miraculous there 
are various degrees. 

God is Master; He does as He pleases in 
His dealings with souls. The lights which 
he vouchsafes, the movements which He 
arouses, are very different, very varied in 
form and intensity; now they present them¬ 
selves unawares, and strike home where they 
were least expected; again they work their 
way into the soul gently by an interior action 
of grace, scarcely perceptible, which little 
by little matures a vocation, as the sun ripens 
beautiful fruit. Some calls are clearly heard 
from the days of childhood, and take definite 
form at the first meeting between the soul 
and our Lord in holy communion. Other 
calls come later—at the completion, for in¬ 
stance, of one’s studies, when it becomes 
necessary to fix upon a definite plan of life. 
There are vocations at the ninth and even 
at the eleventh hour. All these vocations, 
however, have this in common, namely, 
that they take expression in thoughts and 
truths of faith; it is characteristic of the Holy 
Ghost to act upon souls by means of super- 


26 


IN THY COURTS 


(( 


99 


natural motives. Consequently all these 
calls have the nature of reason; not of that 
purely human reason which does not rise 
above worldly interests, but of that exalted 
reason which constitutes Christian wisdom. 


CHAPTER III. 


HOW THE DIVINE CALL IS MADE 
MANIFEST. 

In the divine call one motive often predom¬ 
inates, but seldom stands alone. Moreover, 
in describing some of the supernatural reasons 
which, under the action of divine grace, 
constitute a vocation to religious life, it is 
far from my purpose to establish set classes 
or categories of vocations. A psychological 
analysis alone can separate from each other 
and single out the elements of thought 
which in man’s conscience combine to in¬ 
fluence the will. 

The first reason for becoming a religious 
often presents itself as a fixed resolve to 
make sure of one’s salvation at any cost. For 
a young man whom God inspires to look the 
future in the face, this is indeed a serious 
question: Shall I save my soul ? Day-dreams 
in youth are bright, but can they all be so 
realized as not to come to an end at the 


28 


IN THY COURTS 


it 


99 


great awakening in eternity ? And in what 
an eternity ? Oh, terrible dilemma! Death 
generally depends upon previous life. I do, 
indeed, wish to live as a good Christian. 
Yet others have, like me, formed the same 
purpose. Then, little by little, saturated 
by the worldly, indifferent, perhaps irre¬ 
ligious atmosphere surrounding them, they 
grew weak and quite lost their moral vigor. 
Temptations assailed them and found them 
without strength, and they entered at last 
upon the broad road. Am I stronger than 
theyHave I not in more than one encoun¬ 
ter already experienced my own weakness ? 
How I allow myself to be quite overcome 
and, as it were, to be carried away by pleasure! 
How I yield myself a captive to the influence 
of my environment! These my half-hearted 
resolutions of courage and virtue are in great 
need of a strong support, and my weakness 
is in want of an effective safeguard. But 
one can save his soul in the world, it is ob¬ 
jected. That is very true, but shall I ? Is 
it not better to make sure of my eternal 
destiny ? 


THE MANIFESTATION 


29 


This reason would be enough. It has given 
rise to some very solid vocations. Does it 
not bear the mark of supernatural prudence ? 
Did not Jesus Christ our Lord say: “What 
doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole 
world, and suffer the loss of his own soul 
After a thousand years spent in hell, what 
would a damned soul think of the life of 
pleasure which he had enjoyed on earth ? 
After a thousand years spent in the joys of 
Heaven, would a religious deem the sacrifices 
he had to make worth a thought ? 

These grave reflections are generally at the 
bottom of every vocation; but they are not 
alone, and are often not even predominant. 
It is not fear that fills the ranks of religious 
orders; it is rather the love of God. What 
a pity it is to hear certain writers of fiction 
talk of disillusions, bitter misfortunes, ruined 
lives, the unhappy subjects of which come 
to hide their sorrow and regrets within the 
cloister! Our monasteries and convents are 
not filled with the world’s wrecks, but with 
the fairest, the soundest, the most generous 
1 st. Matt., XVI-26. 


30 *‘lN THY courts’’ 

products of the earth. It is not a storm 
blast nor bitterness that drives so many 
souls to religious life; it is rather the gentle 
breeze of divine love. 

The Holy Ghost makes His way peacefully 
into the hearts of men and enkindles in them 
a burning desire of belonging wholly to God, 
wholly to Jesus Christ our Lord, without 
let or hindrance, without division, and with¬ 
out end. That coarse and humble garb is 
preferred to every other because it is the 
livery of Jesus Christ. Those chains of 
obedience are cords of loving choice because 
they bind to the service of the divine Master, 
and because in bearing them one is sure 
of doing the holy will of God. That sep¬ 
aration from the world is coveted because 
through it Jesus will be found and possessed 
with an undivided heart. 

At times, under the influence of grace, 
to this longing for a complete, absolute aban¬ 
donment of self to God is even added the 
ambition of great souls to tread very closely 
in the footsteps of the Savior. Jesus was 
poor; He was born in a stable; the members 


THE MANIFESTATION 


31 


of His body lay upon the straw of the crib; 
on His apostolic journeyings He had not a 
stone whereon to lay His head; at the foot 
of the cross the soldiers stripped Him of His 
garments; His very grave had to be an alms. 
By Himself embracing poverty Jesus made 
it lovable. Like Jesus then we too wish 
to be poor; like Him, we wish to attach our 
hearts to nothing earthly. He alone is our 
true treasure; we wish for no other. 

Jesus was obedient unto death, even to 
the death of the cross.^ Following his lead, 
obedience becomes sweet and lovable. 

Jesus, the son of the most pure and im¬ 
maculate Virgin Mary, is purity itself; He 
is the well-beloved, who taketh His pleasure 
and “who feedeth among the lilies.”^ To 
remain among His followers no sacrifice is 
too dear; even the shadow of evil will be 
shunned with jealous care. 

Sometimes the thoughts suggested by the 
Holy Spirit take another form; for instance, 
that of making the best use of life. It is too 
short, too precious, to be wasted; and as the 
* Ep. to the Philip., II- 8 . ^ Canticle of Canticles, II- 16 . 


32 ‘'in thy courts” 

love of our neighbor in Christian charity is 
inseparable from, or, rather, identical with, the 
love of God, the desire of doing good to others, 
of being an apostle, springs up within the 
soul. Many a youth by a happy experience 
has been made to understand how true is 
the word of the Scripture: “It is a more 
blessed thing to give,rather than to receive.”^ 
In deeds of helpfulness, in teaching catechism, 
or in other works of benevolence, they have 
felt the first ardors of Christian zeal. God 
made them realize that true life consists in 
spending one’s self for others. The aposto- 
late of the poor, of children, of the sick; the 
apostolate among the millions who are wan¬ 
dering far from God; the apostolate among 
heretics and schismatics; among unbelievers; 
among all those nations who are yet awaiting 
the full light of Christ’s Gospel, become a 
boundless field for their active charity. Iso¬ 
lated efforts are liable to be less fruitful, nor 
are, indeed, always free from danger. The 
religious life, on the other hand, with its solid 
formation, its organized bodies, its safe- 
^Acts, XX-35. 


THE MANIFESTATION 


33 


guards for all times and situations, furnishes 
the apostle with a moral support which more 
than doubles his powers. Besides, God very 
often gives a vocation to the apostolate as one 
indissolubly united with the call to religious 
life. 

Solicitude for one’s eternal salvation, such 
love of God as inspires self-abandonment and 
imitation of Jesus Christ, and the desire of 
the apostolate presuppose a soul already 
arrived at the threshold of religious life. 
None the less, God often directs His call 
to souls that are indeed far removed from 
such a life. All their attention is perhaps 
fixed upon a bright future, all their attractions 
tend to the joys and ambitions of the world. 
How does the Holy Ghost lead such souls to 
the great and generous thoughts that pre¬ 
pare and dispose them for the decisive step 
Often He inspires them with a most lively 
realization of the emptiness of human joys. 
In the still evening of a day during which 
all, indeed, seemed to pass in accordance 
with whim and pleasure, a man suddenly 
finds himself in the very depths of sadness 


34 “in thy courts” 

and disenchantment. Everything is petty; 
everything mean. It is a favorable hour, 
and God may now speak to the unfettered 
soul. 

If as yet the heart is too sluggish to feel 
the emptiness of all temporal things, to make 
it enter into itself and reflect, God in His 
mercy may send it trials, or afflict it with 
great reverses. 

In the ecclesiastical annals of England 
we read a curious story of one of these provi¬ 
dential humiliations. It was in the reign 
of Elizabeth, so severe and cruel to Catholics. 
A young English lord, a lukewarm Catholic, 
very prominent at court for his brilliant parts, 
for his cheerful spirits, and for his good 
looks, was dancing at a court ball, when his 
foot slipped and he fell, under the very eyes 
of the queen. Elizabeth by sign and remark 
showed her disgust for the fellow’s awkward¬ 
ness. This disgrace, of such common occur¬ 
rence and so trivial, was the beginning of 
a new life for this youthful and unhappy 
courtier. Forty-seven years later Thomas 
Pound, confessor and religious of the Society 


THE MANIFESTATION 


35 


of Jesus, died from the effects of a thirty 
years’ imprisonment, having suffered heroic¬ 
ally for the faith of Christ. How many 
religious, going over in mind their past life, 
have rendered thanks to Providence for just 
such ill-success or a deception which had 
caused them to pause and reflect and so 
let the voice of God, till then unheeded, at 
length be heard within their hearts! 

At times it is the reading of some spiritual 
book which has given grace its opportunity. 
The lives of saints, that of Saint Aloysius 
of Gonzaga especially, have sown the seeds 
of thousands of vocations. The example 
of this youthful prince, so pure, so noble 
and kind, so generous, is the source of a holy 
contagion to which the most humble are the 
most susceptible. Well do I remember a vet¬ 
eran soldier who had done service in the 
cavalry for seven years, and during all this 
time had lived in absolute indifference to 
religion. In the engagements near Metz, 
in which he had taken part, in the very 
charges which his regiment had made against 
Prussian cavalry or infantry, he had not. 


36 '‘in thy courts 

he was wont to tell me, a single thought of 
God; not a single fear for his salvation; 
he thought of nothing save of parrying blows 
and smiting the enemy. His military service 
over, he sought a situation. It was the design 
of Providence that he should engage as ser¬ 
vant in a seminary. There one of his fellows, 
like himself a servant, but with the soul of 
an apostle, spoke to him of God, and lent 
him the life of Saint Aloysius of Gonzaga. 
No doubt his good old mother had said many 
a prayer at her home in the forest mountain 
of Ardeche, for the reading of that life was 
like the rending of a veil. Another and 
a new horizon met the eye of the old soldier. 
Some months after, I made his acquaintance 
as he was beginning to lead the life of the 
Coadjutor Brothers of the Society of Jesus. 
He went afterwards to serve the missionaries 
of the East. There he died a holy death, 
having devoted eighteen years of his precious 
life to the service of his Master.^ 

^ Brother Daronat, born at Bosas, in Ardeche, entered the 
novitiate the 20th of July, 1876, and died piously in the Lord 
at Caesarea in the mission of Armenia. 


THE MANIFESTATION 


37 


God also makes use of the example of good 
religious to give the first suggestion of a vo¬ 
cation, or the last stimulus to a hesitating 
and wavering will. It is a fact proved by 
the experience of all epochs of Christianity 
that fervent orders recruit themselves and 
multiply, whilst those whose fervor has cooled 
remain barren. Who is ignorant of the 
wonderful fecundity of the organization of 
Saint Benedict, of that of Saint Dominic, 
and especially that of Saint Francis of Assisi ? 
After so many centuries past, these great or¬ 
ders yet put forth vigorous branches. The 
nineteenth century, in spite of the multiplic¬ 
ity of religious congregations and institutes 
of all kinds, has witnessed similar marvels. 
To cite only a few examples, the Little Sisters 
of the Poor, founded about 1840 by a simple 
curate and two poor girls, have to-day more 
than three hundred houses in which they 
gather, feed, and with their own hands care 
for more than forty thousand old people; the 
Ladies of the Sacred Heart, founded by Ven¬ 
erable Mother Barat at the beginning of the 
nineteenth century, are increasing as it were 


38 


IN THY COURTS 


99 


a 


by miracle. At the death of the foundress, 
in 1865, they covered with their homes of 
religious fervor Europe and the two Amer¬ 
icas.^ 

The Society of Jesus, restored in 1814 
by Pius VII, out of the remnant of that noble 
institute preserved in White Russia, spread 
with prodigious rapidity, in spite of furious 
persecutions. Banished from Russia in 1815; 
from Spain in 1835 and in 1868; from the 
states of Sardinia and from Rome in 1848; 
dispersed and robbed in the rest of Italy 
in i860 and 1870; exiled from Switzerland 
in 1847; from Germany in 1871; forced in 
France to abandon their colleges in 1828, then 

^ Histoire de la Venerable Mere Barat, par Mgr. Baunard, 
Poussielgue. 

Striking examples of this growth and fruitfulness of fervent 
religious bodies are found among the communities laboring in 
this country. Such, for instance, is that well-known foundation 
of Blessed Mother Julie Billiart in 1804. The Sisters of Notre 
Dame, organized exclusively for apostolic teaching, now number 
thirty-five hundred, educating, in over one hundred and fifty 
convents, about one hundred and fifty thousand pupils through¬ 
out Belgium, England, Scotland, Africa, and America. These 
Sisters came to America in 1840 and now have in this country 
over fifty establishments between the Atlantic and Pacific 
coasts and about thirty-five thousand pupils. (Translator’s 
note.) 


THE MANIFESTATION 


39 


dispersed in 1830, 1848, 1880; finally smitten, 
in common with other religious congrega¬ 
tions, in 1901, the Jesuits have multiplied 
in the midst of their trials. They did not 
number 3,000 in 1830; they counted more 
than 4,000 in 1850; 8,000 in 1870, and to¬ 
day more than 15,000—working for the 
glory of God in nearly every region of the 
globe. 

In this prolific growth good example plays 
its part. Nothing, indeed, is more suited 
to touch the heart than a life of devotedness, 
abnegation, and zeal. Nothing is so encour¬ 
aging as the sight of the brotherly love which 
reigns in fervent communities and as the 
soft, sweet radiance of joy—fruit of purity 
and peace of heart—which shines on the 
faces of those who have devoted themselves 
to God with their whole soul. It is indeed 
a pleasure to journey on to Heaven in the 
company of such fellow-travelers. 

One of the ways by which the Holy Ghost 
is wont to lead souls to the religious life is 
finally a well-made retreat. To all earnest 
Christians it is profitable to withdraw some- 


40 


IN THY COURTS 




yy 


times far from the usual allurements of life 
to think on the great interests of eternity. 
It is a marvelous way of healing the wounds 
made by sin. One there learns how to live well 
in order to know how to die well. The hours 
of reflection and solitude, when the soul 
searches for truths and recollects itself in 
prayer, are very favorable to the action of di¬ 
vine grace; for God, infinitely good and mer¬ 
ciful but also infinitely worthy, often waits 
to speak until we are quite willing to listen. 
Hence it is no wonder that a retreat should be 
the time set by our Lord to make known His 
call; nevertheless it does not usually cause vo¬ 
cations. These religious exercises only make 
such vocations stand out in fuller light. 
The vocation already existed, more or less 
distinctly known, and enveloped by a kind 
of mist. The exercises of the retreat dis¬ 
sipate the mist, remove the obstacles, and 
cause false impressions, objections, and 
worldly prejudices to vanish. In the light 
of supernatural motives the vocation, till now 
half obscured, makes its full appearance, 
becomes definite, and asserts itself. 


THE MANIFESTATION 


41 


At length when the “I will” is once spoken 
in response to the suggestion of God to the 
soul, the exercitant finds in contemplating 
the passion of our Lord strength for the 
struggle that awaits him. 


CHAPTER IV. 


THE STRUGGLE FOR A VOCATION. 

A vocation is never unaccompanied by 
sacrifice. It is painful to leave family, 
friends, and all that one holds dear. The 
separation, often to the imagination more ab¬ 
solute than it will prove in reality, occasions 
poignant heart pangs. 

Ah! it must be for the sake of Jesus Christ 
indeed, since in answer to the call one has 
to bid good-by to the fond dreams of the 
future, to habits of life already long cherished, 
to tastes the indulgence in which gave great 
pleasure, and especially to independence in 
the disposal of time in work or leisure accord¬ 
ing to the whim of the moment, to freedom 
in going and coming at will, and of following 
at times one’s own caprice. To-morrow life 
will be austere and regular, exacting sub¬ 
mission like that of a college boy. There 
are seasons when it seems even sad and 


THE STRUGGLE 


43 


like death before its time. To follow the 
divine invitation in spite of all difficulties 
requires courage. And so man is apt to 
think that he is making a great offering to 
God and giving Him a great deal in follow¬ 
ing a vocation, instead of simply being the 
recipient. 

Vocation to religious life is one of the great¬ 
est favors our Lord can grant a soul. He 
has promised the hundredfold even in this 
life;* and He gives it too. Is, then, the 
religious life one of comfort ? No; it is a 
life of sacrifice, of mortification, of self- 
renunciation; a life crucified with Jesus cru¬ 
cified; but it bestows a benefit the absence 
of which secretly poisons the most ex¬ 
quisite pleasures and the presence of which 
sweetens and compensates all evils, namely, 
peace. Not that peace which some imagine, 
who, comparing their continual agitation 
with the calm which religious enjoy, some¬ 
times call them happy, because they have 
neither the cares, nor preoccupations, nor 
the anxieties caused by rearing a family, the 
1 st. Matt., XIX-29. 


44 


IN THY COURTS 




management of intricate business aff airs, the 
maintenance of rank, reparation often for 
the past, and always provision for the future. 
The peace given by Jesus Christ is not a calm 
and tranquillity of this selfish sort. No one 
lives less for self and more for others than a re¬ 
ligious. If he has left his family, his love for 
his relatives has become thereby more perfect 
and more pure. He makes less, it is true, of the 
riches, the joys, and the purely earthly happi¬ 
ness of those he loves. But what solicitude 
has he not for their eternal welfare! Few 
have an idea of the earnest prayers, the sacri¬ 
fices, at times heroic, made by religious for 
the good of their families. 

Again, though a religious be freed from 
anxieties—regarding wealth or for future 
success—he is none the less engrossed with 
the interests of Jesus Christ. He feels 
keenly the outrages committed against the 
divine Majesty, the vicissitudes of the Church; 
he fears, he prays, he suffers for the souls to 
whose salvation his efforts are devoted. 

If such be the case, what peace, then, can 
a religious enjoy? A peace entirely inward; 


THE STRUGGLE 


45 


it makes itself felt in the lowest depths of the 
soul, in spite of difficulties, temptations, and 
even interior storms which God sometimes 
permits. This peace is the result of the tes¬ 
timony which the conscience, under the action 
of the Holy Ghost, bears the fervent religious, 
assuring him that he belongs entirely to God, 
as a child does to its father; that all his acts 
being in agreement with obedience and with 
his rules are acceptable to God; that if he 
be faithful to the grace of vocation, nothing 
can separate him from Jesus Christ; that 
he is sure of Heaven, since the Lord’s prom¬ 
ises, which never fail, are its pledge.^ 

Besides this peace, the love of our Lord 
multiplies our strength tenfold and makes 
everything easy. So good a thing it is to 
work and suffer for such a Master! 

It must be acknowledged, however, that 
those whom God calls to this state do not 
always realize the worth and wealth of the 
interior graces which the religious life has 
in store for them. It will take all their gen¬ 
erosity, aided by grace, to overcome the re- 
iSt. Matt., XIX-29. 


46 


IN THY COURTS 


n 


99 


pugnances, the doubts, the foolish fears 
that attack them even up to their la.st moments. 

Would, moreover, that they had to struggle 
against themselves only! Attacks upon their 
vocation multiply themselves on every side. 
Even Christian families put obstacles in 
their way. 

At the time when parental authority was 
certainly not unrecognized Bourdaloue wrote: 
“It is a right of natural law and of divine 
law that he himself should choose his state 
of life whose duty it will be to bear its bur¬ 
dens and to fulfil its obligations. This 
principle is incontestable.”^ It is not ques¬ 
tioned in these days. Happily, we are not 
living at a time when some parents, by a 
strange abuse of their authority, disposed 
of their children according to their own fan¬ 
cies, destining one for the Church, another 
for the army, another for the magistracy; 
arranging marriages, or forcing their daugh¬ 
ters to enter convents, without even so much 
as consulting their wishes. Everybody knows 

' Sermon for the first Sunday after the Epiphany, on the duties 
of parents with regard to the vocation of their children, part first. 


THE STRUGGLE 


47 


to-day that the authority of parents does not 
extend so far. A youth has the right to 
direct the course of his own life, and to 
follow the vocation to which he feels drawn. 
The authority of parents is solely that of a 
moderator, who guides by his prudence and 
counsel. The most intimate and tender 
ties that unite them to their children, their 
devotedness and experience, give them the 
right and lay upon them the obligation to 
advise their sons and daughters; to reason 
with them; indeed, to arm themselves, if 
need be, with all the authority over them 
they still retain. Parents are the natural 
guides who at the beginning of a career, 
henceforth to be independent, point out the 
dangers of the journey, and indicate the 
right ways and safe paths. Moreover, they 
will be still at hand to help again, with un¬ 
wearying love, those who have made a bad be¬ 
ginning, taken a few false steps and bruised 
their feet against the wayside stones. 

It seems that parents retain their character 
of authoritative counselor when their child 
has been called to the religious life. 


48 “in thy courts*' 

There is, however, in a supernatural vo¬ 
cation a divine interposition which we must 
take into account. God is Master. If he 
confers upon a family the great honor of 
calling one of their children to His service, 
is it not a duty to bow before the painful 
but real favorA mother and a father who 
are thoroughly Catholic should turn to God 
in faithful love and say to Him: “Lord, 
you ask my child of me. By a prior right 
he belongs to you. He was yours before 
being mine. You want him. I will not 
dispute your claim. The sacrifice is very 
great; yet grant me grace to make it, if not 
with joy at least with resignation.” 

But then has he truly a vocation ? Could 
he wish to leave us for a hard and severe life 
if he had not a vocation ? But I fear some 
illusion. Since a wise and prudent con¬ 
fessor to whom he has opened his mind, 
unburdened his soul, made known his weak¬ 
nesses, his faults, as well as his inmost aspi¬ 
rations, discerns and approves the divine 
call, what more should I require ? 

It is the part of good sense enlightened 


THE STRUGGLE 


49 


by faith thus to speak. But that too natural 
tenderness which makes parents love their 
children more out of self love than for their 
own sakes renews the charge, and with the 
“logic of passion” so disconcerting to reason 
invents a thousand new pretexts. 

Some families are so austere as to refuse 
to believe in the vocations of their children 
because they still observe in them outbursts 
of temper or signs of levity and of love 
of pleasure. They act as though they thought 
the call of our Lord, when heard, must at 
once transform those who follow it as by 
a stroke of a magic wand; or if upon re¬ 
solving to become a religious, by this fact 
alone, one was thereby straightway made 
perfect. Vocation gives aim and impetus 
to one’s spiritual life, nothing more. The 
novice will have to make many efforts to 
correct his faults and to subdue his passions. 
The whole noviceship will not be long enough, 
for holiness is not the work of a few days. 
It is the result of time, of struggle, and of 
patience. 

Other parents again, less Christian in 


50 “in thy courts” 

spirit, pretend that before engaging in the 
religious state one should know the world, 
and they make every effort to give that 
experience to the youth whom God is calling. 
The world has some very repulsive phases. 
These they take great care to hide. The 
world is a life of luxury and of pleasure; 
it consists of theater going, public merry¬ 
making, evening parties, and everything op¬ 
posed to the Christian spirit. When Saint 
Thomas Aquinas—who was afteiwards to 
become the most illustrious doctor of the 
Middle Ages—was journeying as a novice 
from Naples to Paris, his brothers, who were 
not reconciled to his vocation, carried him 
away forcibly and imprisoned him in one 
of their castles and introduced into his 
chamber a woman of bad repute. The 
saintly youth was obliged to arm himself 
with a burning fagot to defend his virtue. 
This was their brutal way of making Saint 
Thomas know the world. 

Such methods would to-day excite horror; 
the very idea of them would not be tolerated. 
Yet, to consider the matter more closely. 


THE STRUGGLE 


51 


what is meant by making the world known 
to a youth whom God is calling to His ser¬ 
vice, if not, unconsciously perhaps, but none 
the less really, to bring against the noble 
and magnanimous designs inspired by the 
Holy Ghost all that flatters the senses, arouses 
the passions, and weakens the will ? 

Stopping short of such wicked measures, 
many families insist upon long delays. 
They would have given their daughters in 
marriage unhesitatingly, allowed their sons 
to take service at sea, or to accept a lucrative 
position in the colonies. But if it is God 
who asks them. He is met with a refusal, 
or with hesitation and a request for time 
to consider the matter. These prolonged 
delays weaken and unnerve the strongest 
courage, and ruin the truest vocation. Our 
Lord deserves a higher esteem for His divine 
favors. 

If He most frequently chooses the early age 
of youth at which to make His call heard. 
He does so for some secret purpose and sub¬ 
lime reasons. Of course, our Lord does 
what He pleases, and His divine grace works 


52 “in thy courts” 

transformations that thwart our human 
schemes. Of a persecuting Paul, grace 
makes a great apostle; of a sinful Saint 
Augustine, it makes a holy bishop. It seeks 
out Saint Matthew at the tax-gatherer’s 
money tables, and Saint Ignatius upon a 
field of battle. Nevertheless, this is not 
the ordinary way of Providence. Generally, 
and especially for the apostolate, God makes 
choice of virgin souls not yet sullied by con¬ 
tact with the world. Being pure, they will 
therefore be all the stronger and braver. They 
will not have to drag after them troublesome 
memories of the past, nor bear upon them 
scars as yet scarcely healed and ever ready 
to break out afresh. They will be more 
pliant, too, because habit has not yet en¬ 
tangled them in its meshes, and so they will 
bear the yoke of the Lord without effort. It is 
this truth which an old author tried to express 
under the form of a real or legendary vision: 

“A religious appeared after death to a 
fellow-monk, all resplendent with glory, and 
calling him forth from his cell, showed him a 
great number of men clothed in white and 


THE STRUGGLE 


53 


surrounded with light, who with beautiful 
crosses upon their shoulders were wending 
their way in procession to Heaven. Then 
he showed him others, who walked in the 
same way, but who were yet more brilliant 
with light than were the first. These held 
in their hands a cross, but of much greater 
beauty and richness than those borne in 
the first procession. 

“Afterwards there passed a third proces¬ 
sion, but immensely more brilliant and excit¬ 
ing much greater admiration and wonder 
than those that had gone before. The crosses 
of these, too, were of surpassing beauty. But 
unlike the two files of holy souls who had 
preceded, each carrying his own cross either 
in his hand or upon his shoulder, these had 
each an angel to carry his cross before him, 
that they might proceed with more ease and 
greater joy. 

“Amazed by the vision, the religious sought 
an explanation from the brother who had 
shown it to him. Whereupon the saintly 
visitant explained that the first whom he 
had seen, carrying the crosses upon their 


54 


“in thy courts 


shoulders, were those who had entered re¬ 
ligion at an advanced age; that the second 
class, who bore their crosses in their hands, 
were those who had devoted themselves 
to this life whilst young; and that the third 
class, who walked with so firm a step, were 
those who had embraced the religious state 
and had renounced all the vanities of the world 
from their tenderest years.” 

Did Christian parents realize the value of 
their children’s vocations and what graces 
flow therefrom, even upon themselves, per¬ 
haps they would change their sentiments. 
How many sad witnesses of their sons’ 
waywardness have bitterly repented the 
opposition which had brought about the 
failure of the divine call! How many 
fathers have recognized upon their death¬ 
bed that the unhoped-for graces of con¬ 
version and growth in holiness had come 
to them through a child given to God! How 
many a mother finding in her child a confi¬ 
dante and consoler in the days of trial has 
regretted the tears shed at the hour of sep¬ 
aration ! 


THE STRUGGLE 


55 


Weakness of will is not the only thing to 
be dreaded in the struggle for a vocation. 
The mind itself is at times disturbed by 
the suggestions of the devil or the specious 
counsel of false advisers. Why become a 
religious ? say they. You will do greater work 
in the world. Just think of that great 
engineer, that great manufacturer, that land- 
owner, lawyer, physician, or such and such 
a public officer; what an influence do they 
not exercise in society! No religious wields 
so great a power for good. That a man in 
the world can do much good for God, that 
some, whose names we might give, do more 
good than this or that religious, there can 
certainly be no doubt. But this is not the 
question; God has not called them and 
He has called you. Each man has his own 
peculiar vocation.^ And what can be said 
with certainty is that he who lacks the courage 

^Of set purpose have we avoided speaking in this booklet 
about the secular priesthood, the noble and exalted vocation 
to which, because of the qualities required by that state, is 
very special indeed. There is a vocation to the secular clergy 
and one to the religious life. These vocations are so distinct, 
the one from the other, that a secular priest may be and often 
is called to embrace the religious life. 


IN THY COURTS 


56 




9> 


to follow the call of our Lord will do nothing 
great for His service in the world. In that 
state upon which he enters from mere whim, 
in contempt of the merciful designs of Provi¬ 
dence, he will not have the grace of that holi¬ 
ness which God was intending for him. 
Moreover, according to the most explicit 
teaching of the Church, we may assert that 
the religious life is a more perfect state than 
life in the world. Besides, taken as a body, 
it cannot be gainsaid that religious lead 
a life more holy, more useful to souls, and 
giving more glory to God than ordinary 
Christians do. Finally from the point of 
view of the defense, welfare, and propagation 
of the Church, we must consider how much 
greater influence works that are organized, 
stable, and assured of future permanence 
exercise than do isolated elforts. A sharp¬ 
shooter single-handed may sometimes per¬ 
form deeds of prowess, but he will never win 
a battle. To defend the boundaries of the 
country disciplined troops are needed, well 
commanded, opposing to the enemy their 
deeply serried forces. 


THE STRUGGLE 


57 


A certain thought, no doubt, has more 
than once presented itself to our readers. 
The religious in France are dispersed or in 
exile; the convents are or are threatened 
with being closed; the common talk is of 
expulsion; of secularization; the police are 
in pursuit of such as are suspected of leading 
community life. In these stormy days is 
it well advised to come forth and speak to 
us of religious vocation ? But remember 
that every nation in which Catholicity is still 
full of life bears, as it were by necessity, 
the germ of religious life. My confidence 
in my country’s religion is too strong to let 
me think that fetters and spoliations in¬ 
flicted by law will suffice to check the soaring 
flight of Christian life and its full expansion 
in the practice of the evangelical counsels. 
Catholicity strikes its roots deeply into the 
strata of our old French families. In spite of 
the wreckage that strews the ground after a 
day of violent storm, it will spring forth 
again steadier and more full of life than before. 
Even in the midst of the tempest France needs 
good and holy religious. To unbridled im- 


IN THY COURTS 


S8 


99 


piety ought she not to oppose the prayers, 
the adorations, the austerities of contempla¬ 
tive communities ? In the balance of God’s 
justice in counterpoise to a nation’s crimes 
nothing can so eflPectively turn the scales as 
voluntary immolation and entire oblation of 
self. 

Abroad, the flourishing French missions,^ 
wdiich constitute the purest glory of our land, 
demand to-day, as in the past, under pain 
of failure, the help of fresh workmen. They, 
according to the mysterious laws of compen¬ 
sation ordained by Divine Providence, will 
heap up merit for this country. 

Finally, shoulder to shoulder with the secu¬ 
lar clergy in France,^ the religious have an 
immense task to perform, that, namely, of 
bringing back to Christ, by holiness of life, 

^The general interests of the apostolate and its principal 
power in all parts of the world are represented chiefly by the 
French congregations. (Letter of Leo XIII to Cardinal 
Richard, December 20, 1900.) Cf. Fr. Rouvier, “Loin du 
Pays” in 80, Retaux; J. B. Piolet; “Les Missions Catholi- 
ques Frangaises,” 6 in 80, Colin. 

^The religious orders are the necessary auxiliaries of the 
clergy, in the exercise of the holy ministry and in the function 
of Catholic education. (Letter of Leo XIII to Cardinal 
Richard, December 20, 190x5.) 


THE STRUGGLE 


59 


by devotedness, by charity, the unenlightened, 
indifferent, and impious millions, the ever 
rising tide of whom threatens to flood the 
whole country. 

It is, therefore, because I do not despair 
of the faith of my country, because I long 
for God to raise up for it apostles and saviors, 
that I have written these few pages. May 
they serve to enlighten some of those whom 
God is calling, and with the grace of God 
give them the courage to go, even into exile, 
and there seek the crih of their religious life. 

May they, at least, make their readers 
better understand by what motives and 
attractions of grace God is wont to lead 
chosen souls on to His purpose. 

The study of these mysterious ways, if 
that were all, will well repay their efforts and 
consideration. 

It has seemed good to the translator not 
to avail himself of the author’s kind permis¬ 
sion to alter at will the final paragraphs of this 
booklet and by a more practical conclusion, 
suited to the Church’s greater freedom in 


6o 


‘‘in thy courts” 


America, to replace his eloquent ending, in 
the compressed and energetic lines of which 
he seems to have tried to express all the ar¬ 
dent religious love of Country and Church 
and of their supernatural destiny and glory 
that fills his pious and far-seeing soul. 

American boys and girls, or those of any 
English-speaking country, will be clever 
enough to draw the inference that if in 
such troubled times and under the difficulties 
that dear old France—once the godmother 
of so many peoples—now opposes to the 
growth of the religious spirit and its highest 
expression—the religious state—the Church 
can, should, and does foster vocations to 
the permanent and organized practice of 
the Gospel Counsels, how much more are 
we bound to cultivate, cherish, and strengthen 
these divine energies when they manifest 
themselves in our own clime, where religious 
freedom in thought and deed, in personal 
conscience and public expression, is by con¬ 
stitutional right secured to the individual 
and to society. With this view, and to this 
purpose, does the translator offer to our youth 


THE STRUGGLE 


6l 


the unpretentious version of this booklet. 
For to him it is a strong “a fortiori” argu¬ 
ment, jvhich the devout and sharp minds 
of our college boys and convent girls will 
not let pass, but will express in unanswerable 
logic, “With greater reason in our free 
land must we spend our life’s energies. 
Heaven born, working under the shadow 
of the cross, with hearts and minds quickened 
and taught by Thy grace and counsels, 
O Lord, 

“IN THY COURTS.” 






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